Cards begin FA Cup campaign in Kent

Ebbsfleet United vs Woking
Emirates FA Cup – Fourth Qualifying Round
Saturday 19th October 2019

The Cards begin another FA Cup campaign on Saturday as they make the trip to Stonebridge Road to face National League rivals Ebbsfleet United.

Alan Dowson’s side will be looking to put a difficult six weeks of league football to one side and focus on a competition in which the club has a fine recent record – as well as a rich history. Woking have reached the third round of the FA Cup on five occasions and the fourth round once. As supporters will fondly remember, the club’s most recent trip to the third round came just last season, when the Cards defeated League Two side Swindon Town before facing Premier League Watford at the Laithwaite Community Stadium, the Premier League team winning 2-0 in an entertaining game. Whilst it would arguably be greedy to expect a similarly memorable journey again this season, the magic of the FA Cup has produced stranger happenings in its long history, and everyone associated with Woking will be hoping that another good result this weekend sets the club on its way to history once again.

These two teams actually met in the same round of the FA Cup back in 2012. On that occasion the Fleet won 1-0 with Moses Ashikodi scoring the only goal in the dying seconds. It will, of course, be a very different Ebbsfleet side this time around. The team currently bottom of the National League, who have lost their last four games, are without a manager at the moment having sacked former Woking boss Garry Hill following a 4-2 home defeat by Torquay United earlier this month. Kevin Watson is currently in interim charge and lost his first game 2-1 at home to Maidenhead United on Saturday. Ebbsfleet have reached the first round of the FA Cup in each of the last two seasons, when they were knocked out by Football League sides Doncaster Rovers and Cheltenham Town respectively, and last failed to progress beyond this stage in 2016/17 when they lost to Merstham.

This game finished in a 2-2 draw just a couple of weeks ago and it could well be another entertaining match-up this weekend. So please do make the trip if you can and cheer on the team.

Woking Team News

Dowse made four changes against Barnet whilst also reverting to a 4-3-3 formation. Out went Jack Cook, Moussa Diarra, Godfrey Poku and Shaun Donnellan, whilst in came Nathan Collier, debutant Mark Shelton (on loan from Salford City), Max Kretzschmar and Ibrahim Meite. The Cards played well for much of the game, which ended in another 2-2 draw, with Shelton particularly standing out as he made an immediate impact with Woking’s second goal.

It will be interesting to see to what extent the Woking boss will choose to rotate his squad again this weekend. The likes of Paul Hodges and Toby Edser, who has had his loan deal from Nottingham Forest extended, will be desperate for more game time, whilst goalkeeper Sam Howes could be eyeing a debut after being kept out of the side by the superb form of number one Craig Ross.

Ebbsfleet United Team News

The Fleet squad is full of ex-Woking players – with defenders Jack King and Aswad Thomas, midfielders John Goddard, Josh Payne and Frankie Sutherland, plus striker Gozie Ugwu all part of the club’s setup.

Against Maidenhead they lined up with Jordan Holmes in goal – the Australian Under-23 stopper has ousted long-time number one Nathan Ashmore, now at Boreham Wood, in the Ebbsfleet net. He was previously with Premier League side Bournemouth. In defence was King, part of Woking’s Conference South winning team in 2012, Lawrie Wilson, known for his time at Stevenage and Charlton, Tyler Cordner, on loan from Bournemouth, as well as Newport County loanee Marvel Ekpiteta – part of the Hungerford Town side Woking played against last season.

In midfield was Andre Blackman, a recent addition from Southend United, Myles Weston, who has Football League experience with Brentford and Gillingham amongst others, Albie Morgan, on loan from Charlton Athletic, and Payne, on loan from Crawley Town, who made 92 appearances for Woking during a two-year spell between 2013-2015. Up front was Ugwu, who scored 21 goals for the Cards in 2016/17, and Josh Umerah, a summer addition from Charlton.

Last Time Out

Woking 2-2 Ebbsfleet United – National League (14th September 2019)

These two teams met just five weeks ago. Woking got off to the perfect start when Tyreke Johnson’s brilliant goal gave the Cards the lead. Jake Hyde’s penalty hit the crossbar and stayed out but Woking’s top scorer did get his goal 12 minutes from time to seemingly give the hosts an unassailable lead. But Ebbsfleet fought back with a goal from Alex Reid before Myles Weston got the equaliser with virtually the last kick.

On the Day

The ground can be found on Stonebridge Road; the postcode is DA11 9GN – a drive of around one hour from the Laithwaite Community Stadium. The nearest railway stations are Northfleet (take Gravesend service from Charing Cross, Waterloo East and London Bridge) and Ebbsfleet International (direct train from London St Pancras). Both are within walking distance of the ground.

There is a supporters’ coach running for the game which leaves from the Laithwaite Community Stadium at 12.00pm. Please arrive by 11.45am. The price is £20 for adults and £15 for under-16s with a £5 discount for Cards’ Trust members. Those looking to attend should contact Adam Bowyer (adam.bowyer@cardstrust.co.uk) or call the club shop for more information.

There is no segregation in place for this game. Ticket prices are £17 for adults, £14 for concessions (aged 60+ or carrying a student ID), £9 for juniors (aged 12-16) and £1 for under-12s.

Next Up

The Cards have back-to-back home games to finish their October fixture list – against Eastleigh next Saturday before an exciting game against Notts County the following Tuesday evening. Our next away game is at Stockport County at the start of November.